One of Brisbane's major gay-friendly venues has been accused of transphobic discrimination and assault following an alleged incident with security and a patron last week.

A BRISBANE gay-friendly nightclub has been at the centre of allegations of discrimination and abuse in light of an incident involving a trans* man last week.

The Beat Megaclub in Fortitude Valley has been accused of discrimination and physical assault of 18 year-old trans* patron Oscar McGregor, who said he was involved in an altercation with security after an incident in one of the club’s male toilets on Saturday, August 10.

A security guard allegedly told McGregor that he could not use the male toilets due to his physical gender characteristics. After an initial explanation of his gender identity, McGregor was allowed to use the toilet.

However, the same guard allegedly approached McGregor half an hour later accompanied by two other guards and informed him that he could not use the toilets and would have to leave.

“I explained to them again that I am a transman but then they asked for my ID (which I didn’t give them) and [security] said that until my ID says that I am male I cannot use the mens (sic) toilets,” McGregor wrote on a Facebook post.

“I told them that that is discrimination and they can’t do that. They then asked me if I wanted to be treated as a man and when I said yes they threw me to the ground.”

McGregor said the Beat’s security used “excessive force” that involved a knee to his throat, a punch to his face and standing on his leg.

“This is blatant transphobia and is disgusting behavior (sic) from a place that claims to be inclusive to people of all sexuality’s (sic) and genders. I’d prefer not to be called a slurs by people employed at a place that is supposed to be a safe space for people like me,” he said, in the same Facebook post.

“I am honestly disgusted this kind of behavior (sic) came from the beat (sic), now i (sic) have a bruised eye, cuts and swelling on the back of my head and cuts and bruises down my shins.”

Later on in a comment on that Facebook post, McGregor indicated that he has lodged a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission.

The Beat Megaclub management responded to the allegations on a separate Facebook post by saying people within the LGBTI community were spreading “outrite (sic) blatant lies”.

“A message to all that have made a comment or got on the band wagon (sic) of the trans gender (sic) person being so called bashed for using the mens (sic) toilet at THE BEAT MEGACLUB,” the post read.

After a discussion with solicitors, security, police and licensing officials, management said they would not comment further.

“No other corrispondance (sic) will be entered into because of the legal proceedings that are now going to take place for slander /deformation (sic) of character made by the people who posted lies and threats towards our security staff and management and the outrite (sic) blatant lies being bantered around about the club by people that get on social media etc before actually finding out the truth,” they wrote on Facebook.

Beat management stated that their establishment has been a long-term supporter of the LGBTI community and the allegations being made “saddens” them.

“we (sic) have supported all forms of gay and lesbian organization (sic) for nearly 31 years now and will continue to do so for many more years,” management said.

“saddens (sic) me to think the amount of time effort (sic) and money THE BEAT MEGACLUB have put into gay and lesbian organisations to be treated like this by a minority for their own enjoyment.”

12 Comments

It seems your pretty DRAHPHOBIC! ha! sounds like next time your at the beat a whole bunch of drag queens need to give you a big glittery hug! OR maybe your just bitter because your one of the MANY people that have continuously harassed queens like myself to teach you how to do drag and you’ve been given a big fat NO!

FYI – educate yourself as to what a dragqueen is and what a trans man is! You might actually learn a thing or two :)

we have emailed all the 6 main people that started all this bullshit to defame the club /management and security and boycott the beat to email me and have a look at the security footage that licencing and police have viewed and said we have nothing to answer ..but quess what no answers from any of them…….includeing this magnificent piece of slanderous media organization…..PICTURES DONT LIE..

I was one of the “6 main people” who organised a campaign for my friend Oscar. Apparently it is “bullshit” we made up. Pretty hypocritical given you haven’t emailed any of us “6 main people”

Have some competency and be professional about what your club has done here. I can easily spell it out for you if you need help. You discriminated. You discriminated someone based on their gender identity. The least you can do is say sorry to poor Oscar for the way you’ve treated him when he was at the club and the way you are carrying on now.

I used to work for the same guys who own the beat but at a different venue.

The stories about mafias and whatnot that I’m seeing people say about the buisness; it comes to no surprise.

Of course two sides to every story, id like to know what others have said (was he intoxicated, etc) to fill the holes in this report.
Has police looked at cameras?! (hah…the police & the beat…another can of worms that dont need to be opened hahaha)

There’s some spectacular levels of misunderstanding of what being trans even is here. Even trans women are not drag queens and in this case we’re talking about a trans MAN. Yet there are still piles of comments referring to the guy as a queen. I would have thought that you guys have been subjected to enough ridiculous stereotypes that you wouldn’t buy into them about others. Educate yourselves, you wouldn’t put up with sort of crap from straight people talking about gay men.

There is always another side to every story!
I’m not against any of them, I actually have a few friends who are Drag Queens, and I CAN say that they do carry on more than anyone else!

Drag / Drama Queen – same thing! Always looking for attention and trying to be better than everyone else!
And yes, I agree with CONFUSED? The Drag was MORE THAN LIKELY intoxicated and being MORE than a Smart-Ass and provoked, taunted or threatened security! Security were obviously just doing their job, and this DRAMA QUEEN didn’t like it!
They are not the only ones in this whole world who have been asked to leave a bathroom if they are carrying on in there to begin with!

I commented on Facebook, but it was deleted by The Beat. Maybe there is another side to this story, but on the face of it the Security Guard started all this with the gender policing nonsense. Gender policing just should not happen in an LGBTI venue, and The Beat has offered no explanation of why this particularly un-LBGTI-friendly and highly provocative policy is in place at their venue.

So many holes in the story and there are so many questions, It’s left me wondering since there are so many holes in Oscar’s story then what do witnesses and the beat have to say on their side.
For one I’d like to know how much alcohol did Oscar drink before this incident and whether that effected anything and what was said in the conflict by Oscar. As he was kind enough to share what the security has said, but no what he said in response.
I just want to know the answers….with the evidence given I think no one would be able to make an honest choice on either innocence and I hope that Oscar isn’t proved to be lying so that the Beat doesn’t have the option to sue this magazine for defamation.

But hey let’s listen to hearsay to see how this goes, I’ll be interested to see which side has to apologise…

I find it a bit offensive that the justification that this didn’t happen is ‘look at what we’ve done previously for the gay and lesbian community’. Isn’t the complainant a trans* man? Trans is not the same as gay or lesbian, and that kind of lack of understanding shows just why the Beat is not a great supporter of LGBTI people – just the money they bring in, they charge you for tap water FFS. This club hasn’t looked after the community for a very long time.

As a long-time resident of Brisbane, all i can say is that I have seen no evidence of the Beat doing anything tangible to support the LGBTI community apart from cashing in on the pink dollar, and given that it’s owned and run by mafia thugs, it would surprise me not at all if this incident took place.

Yet another example of the Beat’s thuggish behaviour trying to intimidate someone with a genuine complaint with the threat of legal action. This is the kind of place where drugs are sold openly and staff are subjected to sexual harassment from the owner. Even better, call the fire safety regulations people and have that death-trap shut down.